With the recently released Some Cities completing a trio of gorgeously layered masterpieces, Doves are the band many take for granted. Brilliance is expected, and we have become accustomed to excellence from the Manchester trio. If there was anything unexpected about their set at a sold out Olympia, it was that we may have forgotten beforehand just how special they really are.
It didn’t take long for one's memory to kick into gear. The thumping ‘Pounding’ from 2002’s The Last Broadcast opened the set, sending shivers down the spine as the ground beneath seemed to move. Deafening cheers followed as ‘Words’ became the next port of call. We were now on a trail through the trio’s greatest hits, the newest attraction being an effervescent ‘Black and White Town’. This was the road well chosen, the crowd warming to an occasion designed to showcase newer, less familiar material. ‘Rise’, ‘N.Y’, ‘Last Broadcast’, and ‘Caught By The River’ interspersed the more recent tunes, such as the Mercury Rev-esque ‘Snowden’, the new wave ‘Sky Stars Falling’ and the sparse ‘Ambition’.
Songs from Some Cities shined throughout, none more so then the aforementioned ‘Snowden’, but this was a night where past glories were to be rediscovered and a reputation for the sublime cemented.
Two moments in particular were of note. The opening bars of ‘The Cedar Room’ rang around the theatre with an accompanying roar of approval from an elated audience. Throughout Jimi Goodwin’s vocal proved inaudible such was the crowd's enthusiastic singing of each word, with the anthemic chorus proving especially irrestible.
‘Sea Song’ followed, leading us into an encore that was to prove the show's crowning glory. Drummer Andy Williams swapped places with Goodwin to take over vocal duties on a rousing ‘Here It Comes’. Goodwin was back centre stage for ‘Satellites’ before ‘There Goes The Fear’ metamorphosed from acidic paranoia to celebratory samba within four glorious minutes. Magnificent.